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Topic: Cabin & Porch (Read 35713 times)

Patty, I think keeping to a diet like that wouldn’t be easy even for people who don’t take insulin or have a restricted diet. I often don’t plan food from day to day in a way that I could do that in a methodical way, & one day I won’t remember if I ate more or less calories the day before! For someone who needs to be precise about what they ingest, it would be so challenging.

With spring being new critter season, our four-footers found yet more playmates – wild kit-kats! They are the cutest! They are not here at the Cabin, for obvious reasons, & they are being monitored at home by wildlife scientists who are looking & photographing but not touching. I told our critters not to do anything that would disclose their location. Two vicious dogs are running around the hills not far from here, killing cats even on their own porches, so these little ones would be at risk.

Patty, yeah, I've read about that high/low thing as well. The one I'm most familiar with is 5/2 - five days a week, eat normally, 2 days a week eat severely calorically restricted. I don't know enough about it, though, to know if it would be any good for me.

I was thinking about diabetes while I was thinking of doing this. I don't have it, but this is something that someone with diabetes couldn't just go, "Oh, I think I'll give this a try." It would have to be severely planned out if it were even possible. Diabetes is so restrictive. You have my sympathy.

About my sleep - at least one reason I'm sleeping better is because I no longer wake up from the pain. I used to wake - every single night - at anywhere from 2am to 4am from severe back pain. I woke up from back pain last night at 4am, but that's the first time since I started this thing. So if this diet (of sorts) is responsible for the decrease in pain (and really, it's the only new thing I'm doing except for S boulardii), then I'm more than happy with it.

The S boulardii is also helping. I started it two months ago, so about a month before the fasting thing. The S boulardii also isn't perfect, but does make a noticeable difference. The two of these things working together help even more I think.

Yeah, being a diabetic makes meal planning a challenge. I am type II, so if I forget to take the insulin I won't surely die.

The slow acting insulin is absorbed slowly, has a minimal peak effect, and a stable plateau effect that lasts most of the day. Is used to control the blood sugar overnight, while fasting and between meals.

The fast acting insulin is absorbed quickly from your fat tissue (subcutaneous) into the bloodstream. Is used to control the blood sugar during meals and snacks and to correct high blood sugars.

My Endocrinologist, Diabetic Team and my Physician Assistant has me on a low fat (10g or less per MEAL) and an involved figuring of how much fast acting insulin to take per meal and snack. I have to know the total carbs per food I will be eating so that I can take the appropriate amount of Humalog. So ~ A turkey sandwich made with two slices of bread that have 15g of carbs per slice and 1g fat per slice, 1 Tbs of Miracle Whip divided on both slices= 2 g carb and 3.5 g fat. Lean turkey from the deli is no fat, no carbs. Eaten with a garden salad is no carb, no fat. Dressing is OPA Avocado-Cilantro 2 Tbs is 2g carbs and 5g fat. 34 total carbs and 10.5 g fat.

So, I take the total carbs and divide by three (too long of an explanation why three) and that is how much my Base fast acting insulin is. Then I test my blood just before I eat. If it is under 150 I don't add anymore insulin. If it is 150 or higher, then I add 2 U of insulin per 50 units of blood sugar. So, if I tested at 189, then I take an additional 2 u of insulin.

I MUST eat within 15 minutes of injecting. Fun, fun, fun when I am eating in a restaurant.

Have to take hubby to an medical appointment right now, will add to this when we get home.

When I was eight, I decided I did not care to learn about housewife-y things. I still dislike many domestic skills, like the necessary evil of cooking and eating, but since my household wants to eat every day ....

That all being said, I just did my first cast-iron seasoning, and I'm pretty darn proud of myself. . It is a lamb cake mold. Guess what we're having for Easter Sunday dessert?

It's inspired me to pull out the aebleskiver pan I bought in Solvang, and my mother's pans which I'm willing to bet have never been seasoned. Are there any here that I can do while I'm at it?

Yes, Dreyfuss, it's a lamb. No, not the kind that need a sheepdog to get them safely back in the fold. She's going to make a cake with it, & if you're a good boy she might save you a bite. But don't tell the other critters, or they'll want some too, heh heh.

We got a bit of rain in the Bay Area yesterday & today. It might be the last hurrah of the season, but what a season. It set records for rain & snow & put an end to the drought. The governor officially declared it to be over. Of course, it could be followed by another 7 thin-cow years, so we don't want to get too complacent. But it's good to know I can drink all the water I want & not feel guilty,

I usually season a couple or three times to get extra layering. If you don't, you may find that food sticks a bit more than you expect in the beginning. I'm impatient, so it's more time efficient for me to do the extra seasoning than dealing with food that sticks.

Carbon steel pans are seasoned same as cast iron, so if you find that you want less heavy pans, you can get some that are carbon steel instead.

Uhhh, those cute little mountain lion kitty cats that our pets have befriended ... eventually they grow up & this can happen. So all Incabitants, be sure your small pets & also your kids sleep in a safe location.

And here is another "adorable baby" rescue animal that may not be so cute a few months from now when Punkin goes out to do the bat census & this critter attacks her when it feels its access to the garbage can is threatened.

I placed a grocery order yesterday at a new-for-us online place and it was mostly supposed to be delivered today - due to the holidays of Tamil & Sinhalese new year, a few things couldn't be delivered for a couple more days because the supplier was closed. So this morning it was delivered. Only half of what we ordered (not including the stuff we already knew about) was delivered, and half of what was delivered was stuff we had not ordered. The guy delivering it - not a young guy at all since he looked older than us - was eager to depart very very very quickly and kept saying "I go now." So he left before we - and by we, I mean I - could finish inventorying the goods. Ugh. What a mess.

The invoice we received with the delivery was completely different from the invoice we received after placing the order yesterday. Which begs the questions... Who made those changes? Because someone had to go in to their ordering system, remove a bunch of stuff, and add a bunch more. Some human intervention was required to do this.

It turns out that the lady running the company (which might have all of three people total - it's fairly new) decided she'd send some additional things along so we can give them a try because, you know, maybe we'll like this or that thing. Never mind that she charges us for them. I'm so incredibly unimpressed, as is the hubs. She probably thinks that she's doing incredible marketing.

What it boils down to is that when we order from them again - and we will because they have a good selection of imported goods - we'll have to make the delivery people wait until we go through the order one item at a time until we're satisfied that we've given back all the extras.

Laurie, I thought of you when I read about a mass poisoning in Pakistan when people ate commercially made sweets at a party given to celebrate a new baby. The pictures make this colorful cake ball or whatever it is look pretty attractive.

I thought of you because you're fond of exotic delicacies, which is wonderful, but the way these people were killed was pretty horrendous & also avoidable.

This is one report - other reports say 26 people died, including all the host's siblings. Some of them started keeling over as soon as they ate it, with others dropping in the days after. And the local hospital cannot do gastric lavage so they had to transfer patients elsewhere, which probably let them get sicker.

Other reports say the bakery owner & workers were questioned, & a baker admitted he'd mixed in a powder from a container labeled in English, which he could not read. Turns out the powder was a pesticide that had been stored near the baking supplies. This is exactly why, in the U.S. & elsewhere, toxic or hazardous materials must be stored totally separately from food items - as in a different room or closet. Why containers used for anything toxic or hazardous must not be reused for food, medicine, cosmetics, etc. (even if "cleaned" because there may always be residue). Why anything toxic should not decanted if avoidable - often it's best to transfer stuff to a smaller container for easier or safer use, & any secondary container must be properly labeled. Why states have food handler training classes & certificates to ensure that people who sell or prepare food know how to store & handle it safely.

I'm making popcorn, fruit salad, & lemonade for dinner tonight. It's pretty hard to poison anyone with those, & the critters like them too so we'll have a peaceful evening in the Cabin.

2. Labelling. Oh my goodness. If I had a container that I couldn't read - which happens frequently enough - I ask someone who can read it to tell me what it says. Then, if it's something in my house, I'll write on it with a permanent marker in a language I DO understand. Under no circumstances will I use something that I think might be x when really, it could be anything.

That case of the dog grabbed from inside its house by a mountain lion has proven to be valid. Forensic tests from evidence inside showed mountain lion DNA. This is in a totally rural part of San Mateo County near the coast, south of Pacifica & Half Moon Bay, not near a town of any size, & there is lots of wildlife everywhere.

So the alert is still in place for our pets. Curfew is at nightfall, & the windows are not to be open enough for them to get out or anything bigger than a squirrel to get in.

Yes, this means you, Punkin. I know you like doing the bat census & watching the wildlife & the moon, but you can't be out after dark without one of us two-footers with you. Even Dreyfuss will have to stay in at night.

With the exception of living in AZ for 6 years, I have lived in this little town in Oregon for 39 years. Always out of the city limits amongst the wild critters. Deer, Elk, bob cats, pumas, black bears, raccoons, field mice, wood rats, hawks, bald eagles, turkey vultures, blue jays, crows and wild finches.

I have always had cats too. Up to 3 at a time, but mostly one at a time. They were all indoor/outdoor cats. I finagled an opening in the bathroom window so they could get out. But they always whacked the beejeesees out of the front door screen to get let back in.

In 1999, when I separated from hubby #1 - I had had it with supply the stinking raccoons with their favorite snack - domestic kitty. Plus I just couldn't live in the country anymore - needed the safety of the town. So, the next cat I got was a Maine Coon Cat. 15 pounds with paws that overflowed my palms. She was the sweetest cat I had ever been owned by.

Out in the country - I made sure that NO pet food was ever left out overnight. The doors were always latched, the windows secured. Didn't use the security bars, but I did use heavy gauge 1/2" mesh on top of the screen mesh to keep wild critters out along with the flies, mosquitoes, Japanese 'Lady Bugs', flying termites and ants. This also kept the kittens in until they were big enough to climb up and out the bathroom window.

When the black bears and pumas got way to close to the house, that is when the Rangers got involved. I encouraged the Bob Cats to stay and live on my 5 acres. They don't bother with domestic cats or dogs for that matter. Their absolute favorite snack is beaver. And we had three families that needed to be eradicated, and Daddy & Mommy Bob Cat did just that!!

I also encouraged the Doe's to use my 5 acres as their nursery. My dog kept their predators at bay and in return they trusted us so much two of the 5 does gave birth under my bedroom window. What an absolute thrill it was to watch that happen!! I had to give up hanging clothes out there for about 2 weeks though. Didn't want to run Mama's and babies off before they were ready.

If the mountain lion is coming into the home after domestic pets - then they are pretty dang hungry. Time for the home owners to get into council with the Rangers and see what proactive things can be done. Like put food out in a safe area for them.